Skyhooked Punk- Day One Night - Day Two Morning
Day one of the Unification day event was packed and honestly, no one was really looking to hire at the moment with all the festivities. Even so, Vas worked at putting the word out at the moment and took advantage of the free time to get some of the things he needed … like a new set of clothes! He went and even enjoyed himself a little with a big ‘ol bowl of ramen for dinner. Belly full he went to find the cheapest place to sleep in relative safety since the next day would be better for job hunting. An early riser by nature and overly paranoid at that, he jammed the majority of his pay to the bottom of his boot. Just in case he ran afoul a pickpocket with light fingers he wouldn’t be SOL. With that, he hit up the market again. This time his luck seemed to have turned for the better. He ran into a girl, a Crew Chief herself though the girl was half his size cute as a button. She had been looking for some big strong deckhands and while her charm fell on deaf ears the offer of job did not. A simple handshake, she said extending her arm, to seal the deal. That’s when things got fuzzy. As some point on the way to said ship, Vas had blacked out! So there he was just coming around on some cold unforgiving floor still wondering what the hell happened. Vas couldn’t help but let out a groan his head pounding. Vas’s head started to clear, but any memory of where he was or how he got there was eerily missing, as was the brand new shirt he purchased as well as his shoes. Around his neck sat a metal collar fastened with a small padlock, and a matching band was around one of his ankles. He barely had time to rouse himself from sleep when it became evident what the collar around his neck was used for. Electricity jolted through his body, washing any bit of grogginess remaining from him instantly. Vas cried out in surprise his body arching and tensing of its own accord leaving the young man shaky and gasping. “Morning!” The same cute-as-a-button girl he’d run into yesterday called. “Do I have your attention yet?” The punk blinked looking around confused seeing the same girl with a bright smile on her face. She was looking about as cute as a gussied up doll with a knife. “What the in the nine hells happened? Where am I?” Still a mix of shock, shocked and surprised tugging on the collar. There had to be some kind of mistake! “You’re home, aboard the Skyhook. Don’t you remember?” She taunted. “You needed a job, we shook on it, I said follow me, and you did, willingly?” She leaned forward on the railing looking down into the cargo bay. The sooner the new draftee learned his place, the easier it would be on him, but-- she thought as she ran her teeth over the bottom lip -- half the fun was showing them just where their place was. Hopefully, this one had some fight in him to tame. Vas scrambled to his feet. “Like HELL! I wanted a JOB, not gorram slavery!” He shouted his temper boiling over. “Take this stu-” Vas once again felt the touch of electricity as he over with a yell. Heavy-handed psycho! “Slavery? No, no no, you got it all wrong, you signed a contract on your own volition. You pledged yourself to the Skyhook for the next three years, and as crew chief, it’s my job to see to it that you know your place and function aboard this ship. Think of this as advanced, hyper-accelerated on the job training. The faster you learn, the more benefit to us you’ll be. I believe a ‘thank you, Crew Chief,” is in order, don’t you?” “Fēngkuáng de kuángrè jiékè tù! (Crazy rabid jackrabbit)” Vas protested all fire. “I ain’t signed nuthing! Take this gorram collar off me!” He hollered tugging at the slim piece of tech around his neck. “You can’t for-AAAAH!!!” He screeched as the girl conjured a fresh electric hell with enough juice to make his fingers numb! “Thank you, Crew Chief are the words you’re looking for.” She reminded him. “Want to try again?” “Gēn shānyáng yīqǐ qù ba!(Go fornicate with a goat.)” Vas hissed through clenched teeth. Seriously was she getting off on this because that pleased as punch creepy smile was … not boding well for the punk. Still … Vas was not so easily goaded back into slavery. “Third time is the charm. Otherwise, I’ll make things interesting, and I do hope you make me do so. Try again.” She slowed down her speech. “Thank. You. Crew. Chief.” Vas and pain where old friends. “Tsk … go to gorram hell Crew Chief!” He said swaying back to his feet. “Let me goOAAAAAAHHHH!” He screamed his voice damn near carrying through the whole ship. “Serena!” An older woman chided. “It’s his first day, go easy. Poor lad signs himself away and first thing you do is fry him like a chicken wing?” “I like him. He has a smart mouth and a temper to match, Captain. But sooner he knows his place--” “Yes, yes, always with the spirit breaking. I couldn’t quite make out your signature, boy, what do you like to be called?” That one had been a doozy and all he could respond with was a groan on the cold floor while he rolled to his side. Taking a ragged breath he stumbled to his feet and swayed. “Vas Jat you Méiyǒu mǔqīn de zhū (Motherless pigs). I ain’t sign nothing you bunch a Núlì (Slavers).” He said with a snarl glaring at them both. “You mean this is just a terrible misunderstanding?” The Captain asked, queuing up some documents on her tablet. Among them was a photo of the boy in the collar seated in her office, tablet in hand scrawling something, and then the document itself. “No, this certainly does look like you, unless perhaps you have a twin? So it seems that you have gotten yourself into a conundrum, boy. We, of course, would be happy to release you from this contract, if you bring us two deckhands in your place.” “You drugged me! Clearly! That's coercion …” Vas glared and seeing in the photo he was wearing the collar! “ …. And duress you have the collar on even before I AAAAAHHHH SONAAAAAAHH VAHHHH BITCH AAAAAHHH!” He cried out thrashing on the floor. “The only thing the legal system will care about is that you signed your rights to us in exchange for passage aboard the Skyhook. If you go to the legal system, that is. We’re not the sort to do background checks, but… a boy like you walking around a skyplex looking for work, wad of credits in their shoe, some sort of … is that a gang tattoo on your back? Do you really want to go to the authorities?” Vas at this point outright dizzy now and was pretty sure his fingers and toes had fallen off somewhere. He had only heard half of what she said because the roar in his ears was deafening. “I’m no slave to no one.” He warbled. “Not no more.” Vas murmured fighting to get back up. Everything was stiff and disobedient but he was dogged if anything. He would be damned giving the pair any satisfaction. Captain Edwards nodded her head towards the boy, and Serena sent another jolt through him, holding it long enough to rattle his teeth. “Except you are.” He heard as he succumbed to darkness, “Except you are.”